NHL Eastern Conference playoff preview: Round 2

The opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs were nothing short of dramatic and featured the Ottawa Senators' upset of the Montreal Canadiens in five games and the Boston Bruins' Game 7 comeback victory that seemed to fly off the pages of a Hollywood screenplay.

The top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins will face the Senators with the Matt Cooke/Erik Karlsson subplot looming large ahead of Game 1 Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Bruins and New York Rangers will renew acquaintances in a battle of Original Six franchises.

Here's our Eastern Conference Round 2 playoff betting preview:

No.1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 7 Ottawa Senators

Season series: Penguins won 3-0 SU, 1-2 over/under

Series prices: Penguins -280, Senators +220Why bet the Penguins: Scoring is never a problem for the Penguins, who led all teams with 25 goals in the first round of the playoffs. Pittsburgh displayed its scoring depth in its opening round series with the Islanders, boasting seven players that registered two goals or more. The Penguins also showed off their depth in goal. Although Marc-Andre Fleury dropped the ball in Round 1, veteran netminder Tomas Vokoun stepped in and stopped 66 of 69 shots in two outings for a sparkling 1.41 GAA and .957 save percentage.

Why bet the Senators: The Senators are well rested after dispatching the Montreal Canadiens in five games. They also won’t be road weary after making the short hour-long trip to Montreal for Games 1, 2 and 5. Stud forward Jason Spezza (back) is on the mend and could make a return at some point in the series. The center hasn’t played since the fifth game of the season and has 51 points in 53 career postseason games. Ottawa did a great job of slowing Pittsburgh’s power play during the regular season, holding them to a single goal on 15 chances with the man advantage.

No. 4 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 New York Rangers

Season series: Rangers won 2-1 SU, 2-1 over/under

Series prices: Bruins -159, Rangers +115

Why bet the Bruins: Momentum. The Bruins battled back to win one of the more memorable Game 7s in recent history against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Down 4-1 with under 11 minutes to play, the Bruins triumphed in the face of adversity. After clawing their way back to 4-2 and with clock ticking, Patrice Bergeron awoke from his series-long slumber to net the equalizer with 51 seconds to play and then, finally, the overtime winner. Center David Krejci leads all playoff scorers with 13 points and linemates Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic have also been a handful for the opposition.Why bet the Rangers: Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been playing up to his moniker of "King Henrik" thus far in the postseason. The Swede blanked the Washington Capitals in Games 6 and 7 to carry the Rangers into the second round. Lundqvist brings a 1.65 GAA and a sparkling .947 save percentage into the matchup with Boston. Center Derick Brassard has been a revelation for the squad, pacing the offense for the Broadway Blue Shirts with nine points in the seven-game series with the Capitals.

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one thing u can bet on is the Rangers hard hitting stella defense will not let up 4 goals in a game let alone in period ,when leading by as many Rangers seem to get better from game 3 on ,. Henri is King , again he has shown why.
If the Rangers can find there offense like last nite ,there is no one who will stop them.Nash and Richards still need to start producing some points ,but last 2 games Nash has done everything else ,hard checking , ,always around the net , taking the top defenders with him allowing others to score,, they know he can go off at any minute.The way hes playing its only a matter of Time ..Rangers 3rd and 4th lines have been great .Complete package starting to Gel .Add to that Fans who never back down from there team,and make there presence know even in opposing arenas .. Not discounting Boston, always a tough matchup ,well respected team .Rangers in 6 as always LETS GO RANGERS

" one thing u can bet on is the Rangers hard hitting stella defense will not let up 4 goals in a game let alone in period ,when leading by as many Rangers seem to get better from game 3 on ,. Henri is King , again he has shown why.
If the Rangers..."

The Sabres were expected to move players at the trade deadline, but sending their top goaltender to the Islanders appears to be a rather curious move. Buffalo had already moved Jhonas Enroth to Dallas in exchange for Anders Lindback, who began his career with the lightning.

Lindback has been brutal this season, posting a record of 0-7-0 with a 3.95 GAA in seven starts with the Stars. He seems to be the most likely candidate to start tonight in Tampa. In the event that the Sabres choose to press Johnson into action, he's not been that sharp either, coming off a loss to Carolina that saw him surrender five goals on 41 shots.

Tampa owns the NHL's most potent offense, averaging over 3.3 goals per game. That could spell disaster for the Sabres who own the league's worst defense, surrendering more than 3.3 goals per game.

Tampa has won it's last three versus the Sabres, totaling a dozen goals in those three games. We should expect Lightning to strike in Tampa tonight.

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